Stories for August 30th 2012

Cuba will be the permanent seat for the peace dialogue between the government of Colombia and the FARC guerrilla group, talks which will have the support from Norway, Venezuela and Chile according to a broadcasting station from Bogotá.

Mexico’s state oil company Pemex has made a new light crude oil find in the Gulf of Mexico, President Felipe Calderon said on Wednesday, the first such discovery in the country's push to exploit deep water deposits and boost output.

The Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange are “two of a kind” because of the multiple abuses to freedom of expression committed by both, wrote Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa in one of his weekly columns on current affairs.

Brazil’s central bank cut the benchmark interest rate for the ninth straight time on Wednesday to an all-time low of 7.5%, as policymakers keep up efforts to bolster a slow-moving economy which is the world's sixth-largest.

Venezuela is carrying out an “exhaustive” inspection of its biggest refinery before attempting to restart processing after extinguishing a four-day fire yesterday caused by an explosion that killed 48 people and left hundreds homeless.

Brazil's government unveiled a host of new measures on Wednesday aimed at increasing investment and consumption as it expanded efforts to boost a sluggish recovery in the world's sixth-largest economy.

Since an estimated 40 million people have joined the middle class in the past decade in Brazil, now the world’s sixth-largest economy, the beauty industry is booming and has become the third in importance globally.